The Bridges

The title gives away little about the ideas behind this book. A little girl is alone, lonely, and unhappy. She imagines herself on a small island, far out to sea. Then the magic begins. One day, she receives a package… (from the elderly neighbour in the picture?) and inside is a book. The first book she has ever owned. Sat alone on her island, a bridge appears, which she follows, tentatively, until eventually she finds herself in a place crammed full of books, a library. “Soon it was solid arches of dependable stone, easily spanning the distance between her and the small island she had now left behind.”  Young children will relish this vocabulary, understanding immediately its meaning. The child realises that the more she reads, the more she discovers about places, and that books lead to meeting people too. As she passes on the love of reading to another lonely child, she knows that his world too is going to be “full of bridges, connections, life and laughter.” The illustrations connect the reader closely with the child in the book, moving the colour palette from sombre greys at the start to sharper, bright colours as Mia begins to cross the bridges.